Happy Easter

Happy Easter

I have published this picture many times. It is a sunset, my favorite and touches my heart.

Cathy

Hello Spring!

 It`s nice to be back.  Jack has been gone two years now. My life is more organized, not so much turmoil. Still sad, but I`ve made positive steps. Not an easy path, but once on that path we have to go on. And I know my husband would want that for me.

Since my post in December I`ve been  working outside,  sorting stuff and filling dumpsters. The weather has been beautiful.  Outbuildings are in stages of repair and painting. I`ve had little time to sew. I love being outdoors.  

A Joshua bud. They should start being fragrant about now.

This is a great place to live. Sam the dog and I are outside just before sunrise. No noise other than birds.  Mr. Cat sits at a window watching quail and rabbits. It is time to be watchful of snakes. They like cool mornings. It`s been dusty lately. Thank goodness for Swiffer Dusters!  Shopping is 45 minutes to an hour drive each way.  We do have a gas station/grocery store, library,dollar store, four cozy restaurants and great views in every direction.

Have a great day my friends.
Cathy

Holiday Time In Northwest Arizona

The  Grandwash Cliffs dusted in snow and the Joshua trees a little greener. Beautiful backyard view.

 My best and favorite Christmas Apron. It`s about 50 years old!

 Did you have a Flexible Flyer? My sister and I steered into snow drifts and sometimes tossed from our sleds. There were a few times when that snow drift was ice. Ouch!

 One of the most beautiful places on earth, the Uncompahgre Plateau in Colorado. My first hunting trip was there and it was a  balmy -13F. 

 Last years snow Christmas week.

Iron Mountain towering over the Joshua Tree National  Natural Landmark. A half mile up the road from me.

  Natures beauty is a joy. I am blessed to be surrounded by these gifts from God. I will be posting again between sessions of gift making. Thank you for stopping by. I will post the gifts I made after the recipients open them. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Cathy in Arizona

Halloween Haunts Blog Hop! Welcome!

Hello! It`s my turn to share my Halloween Haunts project. Please visit the other folks taking part as well. Their links are below this post.  I wanted a reversible table mat perfect for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The pumpkin and floral fabrics were in my stash. I purchased the scarecrow fabric on Etsy.  I`ve been wanting to use the floral print for Christmas a long time. The reds, greens and metallic threads are perfect.  The pumpkin / scarecrow  side is sixteen, 6 inch blocks. The back is one piece. I`ve had that fabric a long time. So glad I was able to use it. The finished size is 22 inches square. 

Thank you Marian, our hostess and creator of this Hop. It`s been fun!

Below is today`s list of participants with more projects to share. Some are sharing tutorials and many are having Giveaways. Thanks for visiting!


Tweety Loves Quilting
Sandy
How Art You
Cate's Place
Feather Your Nest
Why Knot Kwilt

Wednesday October 28
Bumbleberry Stitches
Meadow Brook
Sew Many Yarns
In Stitches & Seams
Seams To Be Sew

Arizona Pictures and Chat.

This is my son and daughter in law. This was taken in Williams about 3 hours east of me. Catie is now working  the Willow fire in Mohave Valley. It`s 6,000 acres as of last night. In a nutshell she makes sure the fire fighters have what they need. She`s a firefighter/EMT. The fire is about a two hour drive from here. We had a lot of smoke two days ago. It was better yesterday. My son was also a firefighter. He`s disabled. He flew Helitak for NPS and BLM. I`m proud of them.

Desert Paintbrush. Not too much of that this year. Too dry.

Leftovers of monsoon rains last week. That sure was welcome. Temperatures dropped about 20 degrees. That was great!

This stone building was the Lost Basin Post Office 1884-1894. Lost Basin is where the mining claims are. This building is disappearing stone by stone. I know there was an application to get it on the  Historic Register to protect it. I don`t know how that turned out. People have camped inside off and on since it closed.

I had more pictures but since the upgrade I can`t upload pics into the computer. It needs a bug fix. I always intend to post more often but I have discovered, as have others,that second year widowhood has it`s own issues.. I have sewing projects heaped on my kitchen table. I sort of shuffle them around. good intention etc.  I`m moving along. It`s taking a little longer than I thought. Thanks for visiting. I appreciate it. Prayers for all the firefighters on all the fires and their families!

Cathy

Scraps and Sunsets

 Scraps are like old friends. I open a bin or drawer and I think" oh, I remember you". This is a tiny bit of the scraps that live in my closets, drawers, cupboards and plastc bins. I pulled this small lot this morning with no particular project in mind.  Not very tidy. The table is covered but you get the idea.  I need to sort them and if I`m lucky an idea will come forth. Over the last month I completed placemats and hot pads for my kitchen table. I have lots of WIP`s I`ll share in my next post. Mostly Halloween and Christmas projects

This was last nights sunset.  Awesome colors and I love the starkness of the Joshua trees.  I`m honored to live in this beautiful area.This is looking towards the Lost Basin mining claims area.  There was lots of  mining in the 1930`s and earlier. We used to metal detect the old dumps and camps. I don`t know how they coped with the heat 100 years ago. Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.

This is my favorire sunset picture of all time.  Same view, same Joshua`s. My husband snapped this picture after a late afternnon thunderstorm in 2008.  He walked outside at the right time. Many of you have seen this picture before.

I`m still working on the major yard clean-up. I start about 5 in the morning and stop shortly after sunrise. I have allergic asthma and despite wearing a mask, if it`s windy I go inside. That limits my time. Lots of wind lately. When I`m inside I`m chasing the cat out of the flower pots. 

Thank you for visiting.

Cathy

Hot,Hot,Hot!

I`m happy to be posting again! Thank you for visiting. Looks like we`ll be 103-104 all week, give or take a few degrees. This is unusual. Last summer was about ten degrees cooler.  Every morning about 5:30 or 6:00 A:M I doing yard work. This week I started to dismantle this travel trailer.

Somebody pulled the  roof staples on the edges for me. I still need to get on a ladder to free the center part of the roof. That`s going to be the hardest part. I peeled  metal and insulation from the front and one side yesterday. I hope to finish pulling off the rest of the metal on that side tomorrow and then attack the front again. The windows are out, the appliance hook-ups, gas line. bathroom and flooring need to come out. I plan to save the frame , putting a 500 gallon water hauling tank on it so I can haul my water again. I`m paying for delivery now and it gets expensive even though I`m thrifty with my water.

I am feeling the effects of the drought now. I hear the acquifers are dropping. This is the first year I`ve had to water my desert vegetation and desert willows. The Joshua trees might have a few years le

left.

 Pictures

This is a Beaver Tail my husband brought home . Somebody was metal detecting for nuggets, pulled out the cactus and left it. The pink flowers are just emerging and should be in full bloom before the end of the week.

This is a Barrel Cactus. Also dug up and tossed. BLM and Park Service frown on that. There are two buds in the center ready to open.  When we were prospecting we never disturbed the plants. We worked around them

Indulge me. Sam was watching me take pictures. He`s my cutie Lab/Dane.

Clouds forming behind the Grand Wash Cliffs. My backyard.

I made an ironing pad last week. My ironing board kept crashing at my feet. Not helpful! I cut binding to match the back side of the pad. The size of the pad is 23" x 23" . A nice size for me. I lined it with  Insulbright and Warm and Natural Cotton batting 

That`s about it.  I`m into 18 months of widowhood now (is there such a word)?  The second year is still hard, but for me somewhat better than the year before. The time goes so fast. Yes it hurts, yes I miss him. We have to go on. God is giving me these days for a purpose and I don`t want to waste the time he has given me. Any talents I have are a blessing from him. However most days I need a good shove from up above.

Thank you for visiting me. I appreciate it.

Cathy